Why didn't he get the 2011 US Open semifinal then? Do you remember how pissed off he was at the presser, saying he felt he should be doing the other presser, that it was really tough losing to a guy like Novak? He really, really wanted that... And Novak took it away from him.

No if he really wanted he could do the job in three or four sets but he has Rafa in his mind then waiting him in the final.Without a day off it is hard for him.It is happened Rafa to play with all tired players.The last i check Fed has five consecutive US open titles to his hame and Wimbledon. Did you see what happened this year? No one has been so dominant player as Fed and even at 31 he can get to #1 to prove to all haters that he is the greatest player even though everyone knows that. Let see what Djokovic ,Murray and other younger players will do.

Simon has an excellent head-to-head and is the highest ranked unseeded player. Nishikori is in good form and the rest speak for themselves.

Imagine, Simon beats fed, loses to Nishikori who prevails against super Berd in 3 hours, crawling out dead to face Murray, Murray is fresh, destroys Djokovic in the final and then breezes into WTF on a head of steam. A guy can dream.

The top three will turn up and tank, probably at the QF stage in order to defend points. Berdych or Tsonga have TMS titles but they'd be stupid to over exert themselves here given the WTF begins on the Monday.

actually, i think tsonga and berdych should go with the desire to win in paris. they are certainly not favourites to win the WTF so why not try to get one of the TMS? It's not like they regularly have a lot of chances to win any of those anyway. If i were Tsonga, I'd be more than happy to grab Paris even if that means losing in the round robin of the WTF.

then again, i don't necessarily think murray and djokovic will fold in the QF.

If Mr. Federer is not exhausted coming out of Basel, I think we will see him start in Paris and take it match by match has he has often said. In that case, I believe he'll get by Simon and Nishikori and don't be surprised if the draw opens up. Richard Gasquet had Berdych on a string the last time they played in Toronto and has been playing well recently.

We also don't know yet how fast Paris will be. I'll be expecting relatively faster conditions than we saw in Shanghai. Mr. Murray's section is not simple. He'll probably deal with Mathieu, but then will have either Kohlschreiber or Cilic to deal with. In best of 3 in faster conditions, either of those players is capable of upsetting Murray.

Tipsarevic's section is the weakest in the top half and is up for grabs. Monaco, Melzer, Dolgopolov and Tipsarevic. Anything can happen.

In the bottom half Tsonga should dispense with Almagro or F. Lopez. I expect Ferrer or Wawrinka to come out of the next section. In their only hard court matches, Wawrinka manhandled Ferrer in the faster Cincinnati conditions in 2012, while Ferrer had the upper hand at the same venue in 2009.

Juan Martin Del Potro should get by F. Mayer, but could have trouble with Stepanek who should upend Isner in faster conditions.

Young Raonic and Chardy have never faced each other. Anything can happen here, but I'll go with Raonic in faster conditions.

Mr. Djokovic will likely face Sam Querrey, whom Nole has handled in their previous 4 meetings. So I expect Djokovic to come through and likely face Raonic for the first time. I look forward to a most interesting match. In a best of 3, will Raonic, the best server of 2012*, be able to upset Djokovic, the best returner of 2012 (not inc. Nadal)* or will it go the other way?

*ATP Match facts - Service games won - Return games won
All this said, we can't be sure of how much the year end championship players will put into their Paris efforts, possibly jeopardizing their World Tour Finals chances starting the following day after Paris concludes. It's plainly a silly situation that will hopefully be rectified in the future.